Ambulance driver was using phone at time of fatal crash

MANSFIELD – An ambulance driver was using the GPS on her cellphone at the time of a fatal crash on Aug. 15, according to a statement she made to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

A patient in the ambulance was killed when the vehicle rolled over at Interstate 71 and Ohio 13. The traffic crash report was obtained by the News Journal.

Michael L. Willis, 56, of Cleveland, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Richland County Coroner's Office.

The crash happened at 11:45 p.m. Aug. 15 on the I-71 southbound exit ramp to Ohio 13 in Washington Township. The vehicle was from Community Care Ambulance Service of Ashtabula.

Lt. Chad Enderby, commander of the patrol's Mansfield post, said there have been eight fatalities this year in Richland County. Last year, seven of the nine fatalities in Richland County were alcohol-related, he said.

Four fatalities this year in Richland County have involved "a distracted driver or left-of-center," Enderby said.

The 2011 Ford Ambulance driven by Amber D. Brown, 30, of Cleveland, traveled off the left side of the exit ramp, striking the guardrail, according to the patrol. The vehicle continued through the guardrail over an embankment, where it rolled several times.

Brown, in her voluntary statement to a trooper, said she was not running with lights and sirens activated. She was not making a medical emergency run; the ambulance was transporting the patient from a Cleveland-area hospital to another hospital in Columbus when the crash occurred.

She said she was using the GPS on her phone because the GPS in the squad was not working. She told the trooper interviewing her she may have taken her eyes off the road for five to 10 seconds, according to her written statement. She had been traveling in the center lane of I-71 before traveling off the road at 75 mph, according to the statement.

When asked what caused her to crash, Brown told a trooper, "I was looking at the GPS to see the time of arrival. I guess I drifted over and ended up sideways going off the roadway."

Willis and an EMT, James A. Phillips, 30, of Garfield Heights, were ejected from the patient transport area. Phillips and Brown were transported to OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield Hospital with minor injuries.

The speed of the ambulance and the cause of the crash remain under investigation.

No charges have been filed against Brown pending the toxicology report and autopsy report from Summit County Medical Examiner's Office, according to the patrol.

Troopers were assisted at the scene by Washington Township Fire and EMS, the sheriff's office and the Ohio Department of Transportation.